Collecting Paradise in the Philippines: Selections from the Margaret B. Dunkum Shell Collection
The University of Richmond Museums presents Collecting Paradise in the Philippines: Selections from the Margaret B. Dunkum Shell Collection, on view from July 25, 2012, to November 15, 2013, in the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature. Margaret B. and William W. Dunkum, Jr. (R’38), lived in the Philippine Islands from 1952 to 1982, a time when global interest in shell collecting grew dramatically. During their thirty years there while Mr. Dunkum was employed by the Reynolds Philippines Corporation, Mrs. Dunkum took advantage of the distinctive environment and spent part of her time collecting hundreds of shells. The diverse collection, comprising more than 1,500 specimens, is rich in Western Pacific marine shells and includes species from both the Philippines and around the world. In addition, she collected other marine animals, such as corals, seahorses, and sea urchins. This exhibition features a selection of more than fifty shells and corals from the Margaret B. Dunkum Shell Collection, which was donated in her memory by her daughters Barbara D. Long and Florence D. Gadol in 2005 to the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature.